


Mark of the Guarded

by No_Bark



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 07:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17463200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/No_Bark/pseuds/No_Bark
Summary: Luhan walks home from work every night. One night, during a freak blizzard, he sees a figure approaching them through the snow, only to be greeted by bloodstained lips, and red piercing eyes.





	Mark of the Guarded

The sun had already set. Darkness consumed the village and the young man that was walking down the iced path to his home. The start of winter was approaching, the air chilly at night, making Luhan’s breath freeze as he exhaled. Every day, except Sunday, he walked three kilometers into the village to work at the tea shop from dusk till dawn, and every night he walked back home outside the village. The way home was covered with forest and fields, but all the farmers were always asleep when he walked at night.

 

An owl in the forest left of Luhan hohooed at the moon and soon started circling the young man. Chills went down his spine as he watched the bird. He never had anything but a lantern with him. No matter how many times he walked, the path was always scary. And he was afraid of almost everything.

 

After the forest part, there was one kilometer of open field until home, in the middle of the field, nearest neighbors a kilometer away. Luhan could already see the bright lights of home, the small house for just two people. He walked fast, wanting nothing more than a cup of hot tea, hide under his blanket and to snuggle with his beloved cat. 

 

A cold breeze passed, sending shivers down Luhan’s whole body. He started hugging himself with one arm, the other keeping the lantern up. But the wind started howling, covering the noises of the owl and the lively chatter that carried all the way from the neighbor’s house. He kept walking towards the light, his home.

 

The wind almost knocked him down and soon he saw nothing but the snow, he couldn’t even see the lights of his house. The blizzard completely took over his whole field of vision. His fingers were frozen. This morning wasn’t so cold so he didn’t think he’d need gloves. Now he regretted it. The blizzard came from nowhere and there was nothing to stop it. The sky was dark blue.

 

Luhan’s feet almost slipped from the road when he walked onward slowly. His whole body went rigid and moving his limbs felt almost impossible. The tingling sensation took over his hand and thighs, freezing him, and his teeth clattered together. The sound was not audible due to the howling wind.

 

Soon he saw legs before him, in the distance. The light barely touched them. But he walked onward. Maybe it was his neighbor. Though the boots he wore looked like they were made centuries ago. They looked like leather, the ones that Luhan had seen in the old drawings of his village’s history. The boots of the ancient soldiers.

 

The legs started walking away from him with a lot quicker pace and were soon out of Luhan’s sight. He didn’t pay too much attention to it, but his heartbeat was up. He tried to calm himself.

 

A hand landed on his shoulder. Luhan yelped and dropped his lantern, starting to run forward as fast as he could immediately. He just wanted to get home safely. Though now darkness completely fell over him and he couldn’t see where he was going. His heart was beating frantically, his throat ached from breathing in the cold air so rapidly and his body felt stiff. His legs dragged the ground as he ran. He didn’t dare look behind him. If there was someone with ancient military equipment, Luhan would surely not want to associate with them.

 

The road was not maintained. Luhan ran straight into a hole in the road and fell, landing on his stomach. His face hit the ground that was covered with a thin layer of snow. Slowly he turned on his back to see the person walking towards him. But instead of seeing the person, he only saw his lantern being carried to him. The lantern approached and soon Luhan could make out the figure of a man’s lower body. He was dangling the lantern in his hand on the side of his body so the young man couldn’t see his face.

 

When the man finally reached Luhan, he just stopped. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t do anything for a while. Luhan tried to see his face. He was scared to death, sure that this man would hurt him. To his surprise, the man did nothing but put his lantern down. He turned away and started walking in his ancient soldier boots, his leather pants and Luhan could also see his hand that was as white as the surface of the moon and the edge of his torn shirt that looked like a potato sack. The appearance that Luhan could make out seemed poor and modest.

 

He took the lantern and with a foggy mind, started running home as fast as he could. He turned to the small house, ran around it to the front door, threw it open and immediately closed, locking it behind himself. He took deep breaths when his hands trembled as he tinkered with the lock, until finally he could hear it click and he knew he was secured. No more weird men chasing him.

 

The lights were bright, the oil lamps on the walls of the entrance hall. There was nothing but a green carpet, two arches and two doors on the left. One of the doors led into his room and the other into his mother’s room. The arch on the right went to the kitchen and the arch on the front went into the dining room. At the end of the kitchen was a door to the bathroom where the mother also washed clothes.

 

Luhan rushed into his room and slammed the door close, jumping on his bed where his cat was waiting for him. The black and white ball of fur. His room was small, his mother’s much larger. His bed was in the corner of the room, covered with white bedsheet and pillowcase as well as a green blanket. They looked perfect with the light brown floor and the walls that were covered with all sorts of paintings and drawings that Luhan had collected over the years, most of them family heritage, some of them from merchants all over the world. They were pictures of the ancient world, history, all on his walls. There was also a desk and a drawer in his room, the latter containing his clothes and the former his scrolls that he studied history from, and a bookcase full of books and letters, most of them containing the backstory of his continent, prose, poetry, and drawings. There was a carpet on the floor, the same kind as the one in the entrance hall and the same color as the blanket. Yellow tussles rounded the carpet.

 

The man hugged his cat and covered himself with the blanket, only kicking his shoes off before entering the pillowland. The cat purred and pawed his face, expressing his unconditional love for his owner. Luhan smiled faintly. His face was white, all blood had left it.

 

There was a knock on his door and the mother entered the room. She was old, her hair was brown but it started to go grey, and her face was wrinkled. She had dark circles under her eyes just like her son had. Together they looked like they hadn’t slept in months, this being very true in both their cases. The mother was wearing a long dress that was fastened together from the waist, the pattern on the fabric was colorful blue, brown and light red - the colors of the blossoming cherry tree. The branches were reaching for the sky. The sleeves were long and wide, covering her hands under them. The dress was so long that her feet were also covered.

 

“Luhan… Is something wrong?” she wondered. Luhan shook his head and kept petting his cat, the latter purring so happily. “You ran home so quick and immediately rushed into your room. Aren’t you hungry after a long day at work?” Her voice was sweet and concerned. Luhan hated the tone she had when she was worrying about him. 

 

“No, no, everything’s alright… Tonight I just really missed home. And Mister Cat”, he said with an unsure voice that only made his mother more worried. She just kept staring at him playing with his cat.

 

“You will never find someone who trusts and loves you more than your cat. Hold onto him”, she said sarcastically before walking away. She did this because for a long while she had been telling Luhan to get married, but to no avail. Luhan never liked anyone. Even if he felt something for someone, it was soon in vain: they were either getting engaged or Luhan just lost interest because they weren’t like they seemed at first. People change. But Luhan didn’t want them to change. He wanted everything to be the same.

 

***

 

The next two weeks passed without any blizzards. Luhan kept thinking about the mysterious man he saw in the storm. He never said anything. But he also didn’t hurt him. Luhan tried to figure out what was it that the man wanted or if it could have just been an antisocial villager. However, he was scared every single night leaving work. Legs trembled, hands shivered, the little oil lantern dancing in his grip. He started to wear more clothing in case more blizzards occurred.

 

And one night, it did. The blizzard started after the forest, just like last time, in the middle of the field. Luhan knew that something bad would happen, so he started running. This time he wouldn’t give in to the fear and run before anxiety could overtake him. As soon as he entered the blizzard he started seeing things, as if there were shadows and people in the darkness. He shook his head and focused on the road, making sure that he wouldn’t slip on the snow. He thought he heard something… but it was just his imagination playing tricks on him.

 

Until he did slip. He ran straight into a man that he didn’t even see before toppling him. Together they fell onto the thin layer of snow, real winter not yet started. Luhan’s grip on the lantern loosened and it fell two meters before him on the road. He couldn’t say anything nor do anything. Tonight the moon was shining brightly so Luhan could see the face of the man before him.

 

He quickly took his distance. The man had white skin, white as the snow, red piercing eyes and mouth covered with something red and thick. His hair was black and messy, he looked like a beggar. But he had those boots of the ancient soldiers, the dark leather pants and the shirt that really did look like a potato sack. There was something red on his shirt… 

 

Luhan stopped breathing altogether. His eyes were wide open and his lips quivered, his heart felt like it had stopped as the other man stared at him. His eyes looked terrifying, piercing through his soul. Luhan’s whole body felt stiff, unable to move even his toes.

 

Soon the terrifying man got up, stopped staring, walked past the man sitting on the ground and made his way into the darkness behind. Luhan couldn’t look behind himself. He felt tears rushing down his cheeks, heard a sob escape his lips in the blowing wind. After a couple of seconds after the man had passed, Luhan got up, ran to his lantern and then home. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. They felt like logs that he had to drag with him. 

 

At home, he slammed the door close again, locked it tight and made sure that there was nothing out of the ordinary in his clothes or himself. He made sure there was no blood and no marks. There was nothing. The man had not hurt him this night either, but his eyes and lips looked like he would’ve. Maybe he was just scaring Luhan and making sure that he was afraid of him when he finally came out to drink his blood and eat his insides. 

 

This time he was lucky. Maybe next time he wouldn’t be. He put his coat on the rack in the entrance hall and ran into his room again, dropping his shoes before jumping in his bed and hiding under the blanket. His breath hitched in his throat, tears rushed down his face and his whole body shivered. The bed squeaked when he sobbed violently, catching his mother’s attention. Even his cat was worried. He laid on the bed and started meowing, pawing Luhan’s back through the blanket with his black and white paws.

 

The mother walked into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, gently caressing the bump that she assumed to be her son’s head. Luhan was hugging a pillow tightly and he couldn’t stop thinking about the man in the blizzard, the red eyes and the bloody mouth… He wasn’t human. Maybe Luhan was going crazy. Maybe it was just his imagination… Just regular moonlight madness… 

 

“Is everything okay, sweetie?” she asked with a concerned tone in her voice. Luhan didn’t say anything, just kept sobbing. “Was your boss mean to you again? He is such a horrible man…” Luhan shook his head. Compared to this problem, his boss was nothing but an annoying insect whining in his ear. He could almost feel the fangs on his neck as the other man sucked him dry…

 

The night was sleepless. Luhan couldn’t sleep at all and neither could his mother, being too worried about her son. So Luhan was hiding under the blanket all night and his mother was there sitting on his bed the entire time, her back aching in the morning when she finally got up to make them some breakfast. It was early in the morning. Luhan always left early to work and came home late. His mother told him to get a different job, but the son couldn’t find any other place. Or other work that he was good at. He could have helped at the farms but that was too physical. He could have been a teacher but he only knew history and the village didn’t need another educator on the matter of the past. He could have cleaned but there was nobody who needed it. So he was stuck with making tea, the horrible man that he called his boss watching his every single step. And complaining about those steps, too.

 

He got up after his mother and walked straight into the dining room where his mother had already set the table with two cups of coffee and two slices of bread, one for each. There were four chairs surrounding the round table, all of them made by Luhan’s father who had already passed years ago. All of them were light wooden, like the walls and the floors. The table was covered with a green cloth like the floor right under it. There was a window that opened the view to the road, partially covered with long green curtains that touched the ground.

 

Luhan sipped the coffee and ate the bread with much struggle. He didn’t want to leave the house in fear of more blizzards. Going to work wasn’t as scary as coming home.

 

“Are you sure you’re okay? I spent the whole night in your room and you never said a word. Luhan, talk to me”, the mother tried desperately. Luhan just kept staring at the table, his eyes red after the sleepless night.

 

When it was time for him to go to work, he couldn’t. He stayed on the chair and didn’t move a muscle. That’s when his mother said, “I will walk you to the village and back.”

 

And so she did. For two whole weeks, she walked to the village with her son and back home in the evening. And no blizzards occurred during that time. But the nightmares about the man became worse and worse.

 

***

 

A month went on without Luhan seeing the man in the blizzard. He didn’t trust it, though. He couldn’t believe that the nightmare man would not appear again, but he had made up his mind. The man was something out of this world but that wouldn’t stop him from trying to confront him. He couldn’t go on living in fear.

 

One day he was walking home again. This time the blizzard started way before the fields. It was in the forest. The trees bordered the road, it was dark between them. Again Luhan thought he could see a figure in the darkness. After a blink, he quickly realized that it was not a man, but merely a fragment of his imagination. It was a cold night yet again. It always was when the blizzards and the man occurred.

 

Soon he could make out footsteps behind him. They were coming closer… and closer... Luhan quickly started running. The path was slippery but he wouldn’t let it stop him. The footsteps behind him also started running. Luhan couldn’t look behind himself to see what or who it was, all he knew was that looking behind himself would make him feel a lot worse.

 

He kept running until he was almost home, breath hitching and whining, lungs frozen from all the inhaled freezing air. His hands felt like ice cubes, ready to be cracked from their place. He decided to look behind himself now that he was so close to home, the footsteps still following him. 

 

But when he looked behind himself, there was nothing. Had he become this paranoid? He couldn’t see anything behind himself and was already calling himself crazy inside his head until he ran into someone and they both fell over into the snow. This time he could keep the lantern in his hand and nothing happened to it. 

 

The man who was now laying under him was the same that he had seen a month before. This time his mouth wasn’t covered in blood, but his eyes were as red as last time, staring straight into his soul and eating him alive. They pierced through his mind and read his thoughts, stole his memories, and finally froze him in place. Luhan couldn’t breathe. With stiff movements, he separated himself from the man and took a little distance. The man’s skin was cold… He looked like a statue, not even his rib cage moved to indicate that he was breathing. 

 

“Wh-wh-who are you?” Luhan asked, voice trembling and words stuttered out. To his surprise, the man before him didn’t even change his expression. He didn’t seem happy, not sad, not even amused. His expression was completely blank. His gaze wandered on Luhan’s body. “Wh-what do y-you want with m-me?”

 

An ominous smile crept on the man’s face. His kittenish eyes showed that he wasn’t actually amused by this. He was just smiling without a reason. And his voice was much higher than what Luhan had expected. “I am the guardian of this village. Or, nightmare. Which one I am, is up for you to decide. If you’re afraid of me, I guess I am your nightmare. But if you embrace your nightmare, it will embrace you.”

 

The man broke eye contact, stood up and walked into the darkness. He looked assertive. Knew where he was going. Luhan stared at him walk away. He couldn’t look past the man.

 

After a while he got up and ran back home again, locking the door after him. His heart was beating in his ears and bursting out of his chest, head dizzy, world spinning. The man didn’t leave his head. Just because he didn’t hurt Luhan this time didn’t mean he wouldn’t the next. The young man walked into the kitchen and poured himself some tea, his cat jumping onto his lap and pawing his thighs, the sharp claws stinging through the fabric. Luhan didn’t even feel it, his thighs were so frozen. 

 

The blizzard had calmed down. The sky was clear and he could see the full moon, shining brightly in the sky, painting everything with a blue hue. The snow was glittering, shining almost as brightly as the moon. The jasmine tea was hot and Luhan almost burned his tongue when he sipped it from the china mug that his mother had painted with light flowers. The mug heated up with the water, hurting Luhan’s fingers as they held it. 

 

The words of the man kept echoing in his mind. He was still shivering a little, from the cold and the fear, but today he was much less scared than the last time. What does it mean? The guardian of the village? Nothing like that was in his history books… Maybe it was unwritten history. Or maybe this guy was new… Though he looked ethereal.

 

One thing Luhan knew for sure. He had to stop being afraid.

 

***

 

Every night he walked with the lantern in his hand, every night making his arm less steady. His knees always shook from the cold, fear and anticipation, every day dragged on and made him more anxious to see the man that had caused him several panic attacks. 

 

But one day, he just stood there. The guardian of the village, the nightmare of Luhan. He looked up into the skies, though he couldn’t see through the storm. Though he couldn’t see the stars of the sky.

 

Luhan gulped audibly before approaching his nightmare. His knees felt weak and he was about to throw up before the man looked back at him, his eyes glowing red and skin as white as the snow. For some reason, he didn’t look as cold as the times before. But the words he said last time kept echoing in Luhan’s head.

 

He was about to open his mouth as the guardian said, “Follow me”, and started walking into the dark forest.

 

Chills went down Luhan’s spine and he was sure that now was the time he would meet his demise. However, he didn’t say anything, just followed the assertive man. The woods were thick, lush spruces almost hit Luhan’s face as he walked behind the man who didn’t seem to be bothered by them. He almost fell many times, the coldness numbing his feet slowly and tingling his thighs, alarming his body about hypothermia. He didn’t even wear gloves and his hands were almost as red as the man’s eyes.

 

He had no idea where they were going, but the man seemed to know the way like he had walked it many times. Luhan couldn’t follow his footsteps because he finally noticed that the man left no prints on the ground. 

 

The dark forest fueled Luhan’s nightmares. He could almost hear a wolf howl and branches breaking every ten seconds. 

 

Until finally they reached something that of a building. Luhan couldn’t see a lot, but he saw that the place wasn’t very big nor new. It seemed to be nothing but an abandoned old building. There wasn’t even a clear trail to the place, only the one they just walked. Luhan didn’t keep track of how long they walked, he was too focused on his bodily functions. And now the thoughts of his mother, his warm bed, books, and his cat crossed his mind as the weight of the situation dawned to him.

 

A stranger had taken him into the middle of the woods into an abandoned building. 

 

And not just any stranger. Some supernatural stranger.

 

The man walked to the door of the building. They were wooden and rather big. His snow white hand landed on the handle and he pulled. The door creaked ominously and for a moment Luhan’s heart stopped beating, sure that right about now some wild animal would jump on them and tear them into pieces. 

 

But that did not happen. The man only kept the door open and looked at Luhan expectantly. And Luhan took the steps into the building, almost as if under a spell. He tried to calm down by telling himself that this man would not sacrifice his soul to bad spirits, but his imagination went wild. Maybe the man would eat his insides. Maybe he would eat his neck and bathe in his blood. Maybe he would tear his limbs apart from his body and feast on his heart. And because of his supernaturality, he would keep him  _ alive through it all _ . 

 

The man stepped in after him and Luhan looked up to see twelve little altars that were lighted up with candles. Each of them had a little symbol that he didn’t know the meaning of. He had never read about them in the history books. Along with twelve altars, there were eight benches, four on each side of the chapel-like building. The whole place was made from stone, even the altars in the front of the building that looked like small washing basins on pedestals. Luhan could feel the dust practically attacking his nose. The air was still cold, but it was warmer inside.

 

“I lit up all these candles”, said the man who now walked to the front of the building, right in front of an altar that had three candles on it. It was more than any of the others. “You do like light.” It was more of a statement than anything. Luhan just blinked a couple times. Surely the man didn’t bring him all this way just to do some small talk. 

 

Luhan walked closer to the man at the altar and dared to ask, “What is this place? Why did you bring me here?”

 

“This is a temple for the twelve guardians of the village. This one… this one is my altar”, he said, his eyes fixated on the light, fascinated by the fire. Luhan took a few more steps closer. That still didn’t answer his questions. 

 

“What guardians? What are you talking about?”

 

But the man didn’t answer. He just played with the fire, ran his fingers through it like silky hair. 

 

“You seem to be tense. Are you afraid of me?” It was his turn to ask questions. Luhan took a deep breath and now walked closer, until he was right at the altar. But his whole body froze as the man’s eyes met his. “Have you thought about it?”

 

Luhan took a moment to catch his breath. The man’s eyes were piercing through him and sticking him to the ground. “I… have.”

 

“You’re here. You’re free to leave if you want to. I am not forcing you into anything.” His gaze troubled Luhan. His feet were tingling and he wanted to run away, even if the man in front of him was undoubtedly convincing him that there was nothing to be afraid of. His aura was calm and assuring, but the situation was terrifying and the man… he was inhuman. 

 

“Just… tell me who you are. Tell me  _ what  _ you are.” Luhan’s voice sounded desperate. The man noticed it. His eyes went back into the flames and the beauty of the natural element seemed to succumb him.

 

“I am the last guardian of this village. My name is Xiumin.” His demeanor seemed much warmer after he told his name. Luhan felt more at ease, but his whole body was still extremely tense, his neck stuck. “What’s yours?”

 

“You… you don’t know me? Even though you’ve been stalking me?”

 

“I have not been stalking you. You have just happened to be on my way the nights I’ve been wandering. Usually back to this place. You see, this is my home.” His eyes looked calm and his voice weirdly human. It was almost like he was human, yet something more. “This is where my body rests.”

 

“Are you… dead?” A spirit, maybe. Luhan didn’t know. He would believe anything at this point. But the man only let out a chuckle.

 

“What’s your name?” Again, ignoring his question as if he hadn’t heard it. It made Luhan slightly irritated.

 

“...I’m not telling you until you tell me what you are”, he insisted with a slightly stuck up voice. 

 

Xiumin took a moment to reply. “...Do I look dead to you?”

 

The color of the other one’s skin seemed like it, his chest didn’t seem like it was rising and falling to indicate that he was breathing. But still, he was standing on his two feet and talking, as if some air was still restored somewhere in his lungs, and his muscles worked more than perfectly. Just then Luhan realized how attractive, yet dead, the guardian looked. He uttered the reply that came out more like a question than an answer.  “No…?”

 

“Then I am not dead”, Xiumin said immediately, his voice determined.

 

“But-”

 

“Do I look scary to you?”

 

And just then the red piercing eyes made Luhan’s heart freeze. He could almost see the blood on his lips again. “...Yes.”

 

“Then I am scary.” The guardian ran his finger through the fire again. Luhan was sure that his whole hand would melt away like the snow outside. Why was he so pale? “So who are you?”

 

“...I’m Luhan”, the boy decided to introduce himself, though left it at his name. He didn’t want the scary man to know anything about him. “What do you want from me?”

 

“All everybody wants.”

 

And then he just walked away, to the entrance of the temple, opened the squeaky door and disappeared into the night. Luhan just stood there for a while. That didn’t exactly answer any of his questions, but there was nothing he could do to make the other stay. He really didn’t want to stay another minute in this place.

 

But in the forest, he didn’t feel as scared as before, though he was all alone this time. 

 

He went home with the piercing red eyes imprinted on his mind and limbs shuddering from the cold. His mother quickly approached him as he came through the door.

 

“What took you so long? I saw you coming out from the woods. What were you doing? Oh, you’re so pale”, she worried as she put her hand on his cheek. Instead of red, like usual, Luhan was as white as a ghost.

 

He wasn’t up for chatting, so he just took his stuff and went straight to bed. He didn’t bother to even cuddle his kitty, just fell on the bed, shut his eyes and a second later he was deep in sleep.

 

***

 

“Today I brought you some pie my mother made the other day. I don’t know if you eat, but I hope you like it.”

 

Luhan’s words echoed in the temple. The sun was shining through the big windows that he couldn’t see the last time. The whole temple looked much bigger in the sunlight. 

 

“What do you want from me? I’m only nineteen and… I don’t even know how old you are. You must be… ancient.”

 

There was a white fox sitting on the first bench. Luhan was kneeling before Xiumin’s altar and had placed the piece of pie in the basin. He was sure that the fox would eat it as soon as he left. And at first, he was scared to death about the wild animal sitting there. However, the fox sat still and somehow the little creature made him feel calm.

 

He rose his head to look at the altar, his mouth opening and closing, eyes half-lidded. He was struggling to find the right words and also embarrassed that he was practically talking to himself.

 

“I don’t know why I came here today. This is my only day off every week. I guess I wanted to see you. I guess… I’ve been thinking about what you said. There isn’t a thing in this world that I’m not afraid of. And that’s… that’s why… it would be nice if… if…” 

 

But before he could finish the sentence, he sighed deeply and smacked his head lightly. This was stupid and he knew it. He shouldn’t be so dumb to trust some… spirit or something, that he saw in the middle of the night. What if he was just going crazy?

 

He stood up quickly and went back home, his head dizzy from the thoughts of the guardian. 

 

And he went there again the next week. Just to tell the spirit what he’d been doing. It almost felt like Xiumin was listening, it almost felt like he was actually protected and cared about - though he was just talking to himself in the middle of the woods in an abandoned temple with a tame white fox.

 

When he came back again, his mother was waiting for him at the porch. Her eyes looked worried, yearning for something: an answer that Luhan would not be able to give her. At least not what she wanted to hear.

 

“Is there a girl you’re not telling me about?” she wondered but sighed immediately. She was sitting on the steps even though it was raining. She looked at the ground, the melting snow that would soon make the place slippery again. “But you’re not happy. You don’t talk to me. You don’t smile. You keep reading and reading and thinking and working. Don’t you get tired?”

 

Luhan took a few breaths and thought about the guardian. It wouldn’t hurt to ask.

 

So he sat down next to her, not once even glancing at her. So they sat there in silence, just listening to the water drum at an irregular pace.

 

“Mom. Do you know about the last guardian of the village?” he wondered. She took a deep breath before turning to look at him, her eyes serious. She wouldn’t say anything before Luhan hesitantly turned his head to meet her gaze.

 

“My grandmother. She used to visit the guardians. She died when I was young and told me to always believe in the guardians and bring them offerings. But… I haven’t heard a thing about the guardians of our village in decades. My parents did not believe in the guardians, because the village started losing its’ glory…” Her eyes got a little teary at the end, her gaze wandering down his body to look at his wrist. And then she took his wrist in her hand, looking for something. 

 

It didn’t take long for her to see something that Luhan himself hadn’t noticed before. There was a purple bite mark. A wide smile spread on her face, as if she was a child whose prayers had been answered. Luhan didn’t understand what it meant, just looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. Until their eyes met again and she uttered the words, “The mark of the guarded”, as if he had any idea what that meant.

 

“My grandmother used to tell me that the ones with the mark of the guarded are protected by one of the guardians. They could ask for the guardian to do anything and their prayers would have been answered to the best of the guardians’ abilities. But like my parents, I never believed in that… you’re free to believe in what you want, but I don’t think this looks any different than a small dog’s bite.”

 

***

 

The words of his mother only fueled his affection for the guardian. He had to go to the temple every week and tell the guardian about what he’d done in the past week. Every time he brought food that was eaten the time he came back. He was sure that it was the small white fox that always sat there, waiting for him and always staring back at him as he left.

 

Luhan let the power take over his mind. He let the power of the guardian fuel his actions and do great at work, be fearless in new situations and do his best in customer service. Though, he was still not great at it. This time he was just less afraid.

 

Almost two months went by and the guardian didn’t show up. It made Luhan agitated. He just wanted to see the guardian again, ask him so many questions, know way more about him. He had so many unanswered questions about the twelve guardians and about this temple. He searched through the library but didn’t find anything, not even if he asked from the librarian. How could something so important to their village be something that everybody had forgotten and stopped believing in? 

 

He kneeled before the altar again and just stared before him. The spring was at its peak and it was starting to get warm. Finally. Luhan couldn’t wait for light summer nights when he could come to the temple during evenings, after work. And maybe, just maybe, he could have a summer break this year. He was almost twenty and he’d been working in the tea shop six days a week for almost three years now. He deserved a vacation.

 

He took a deep breath and started talking, “Why do you never show me yourself? I want to see you again. I used to be afraid of you, now I... crave to see you.”

 

The small white fox jumped down from the bench and gracefully made his way to Luhan. The small animal sat right next to him. 

 

And as the young man blinked, he saw Xiumin sitting next to him instead of the white fox. He was startled.

 

“Why?” the guardian asked with a calm voice. Now that he was actually there, Luhan felt tense. He had been thinking about the man for so long, yearned to see him again and craved to know what he feels like. What his cold fingers would feel like. 

 

Luhan turned to him slowly with his whole body.

 

“You’ve been listening to me all along. You’re the white fox.”

 

“I have. You have the mark. I see you and I feel you everywhere you go. You don’t need to come here to bring me food and talk to me, but I am glad that you come to the place where my spirit is the strongest. Yet, most vulnerable.”

 

Luhan just took a while to take in the man’s features. He didn’t know what it was, but since he noticed the mark on his wrist, he had an uncontrollable urge to devote his whole existence to this spectral creature. Whatever it was, he liked it, and he wanted more of it. He  _ needed  _ it. 

 

Slowly the guardian turned his head to look at the human. Luhan almost melted, the way their eyes met made him feel so safe, yet so bare, like Xiumin had undressed him with only his eyes. And Luhan didn’t know if he liked it or hated it - he only knew that he wanted more of this. He couldn’t quite describe it, but it was something he had read about in the books, something that of arousal or lust. He didn’t know, since he had never before experienced it.

 

“The mark of the guarded ensures that I protect you. And I will. But it means that you have to give your all to me. That includes your time. Your life. Your body. Your afterlife.”

 

Luhan then snapped out of it. “My life? My afterlife?”

 

Xiumin simply nodded as he looked back up at his altar. There was a simple bread laying there. “It means that when your time here is done, you will give your spirit to me. So that I can continue protecting the village.”

 

“What do you protect it from?” Luhan wondered. There wasn’t any danger in particular causing peril to the village. The only backlash had been the poverty. 

 

“Bad spirits. Spirits who come here to take the land.”

 

“What will happen to my spirit then? Where will I go when I die?” The matters of his own life had always interested Luhan more than what was happening around him. The world, it made no sense. Neither did he, but wasn’t he a part of the world? 

 

“You are already a part of me. So you will be.”

 

Then Xiumin stood up. The young man got up as quickly as him and took a step closer, not letting him leave just yet. The guardian’s gaze shifted up and his eyes penetrated into Luhan’s soul, making his knees slightly buckle. He hadn’t even touched the guardian since the night he toppled him over. And he wished to know what his skin felt like. It looked like ice cold porcelain.

 

He wanted to say something. Something that would have kept the spirit, or whatever the man was, with him. He wanted to be near Xiumin. It was an evolving obsession. Wherever he went, whatever he did, whatever he dreamed… it all contained Xiumin. If it was the mark causing the hassle, he didn’t care. All that he could care about was that he needed to be near the guardian, no matter the cost. 

 

“What about my great-grandmother? I asked my mother about you and the mark. She told me that her grandmother knew”, he insisted on finding a subject that would keep the other still. Xiumin’s eyes looked seemingly soft before he sat back down, his eyes fixated back on his own altar. Luhan sat down as well, his gaze tight on the other one and his actions. The other didn’t even breathe. There was nothing indicating what kind of mood he had or what he felt - if he had emotions at all.

 

“It used to be, that the villagers prayed at my altar every day. They sacrificed themselves to me and my eleven brothers. Old men and women came here to receive the mark of the guarded, to gain protection, not only for themselves but the whole village. They sacrificed their whole lives to me - to us - and gave up their afterlife in order to keep the village nourishing for many decades to come.”

 

Luhan just wished that he had a notebook with him so he could write down everything that Xiumin was saying. This was a significant part of their culture and history, how was he not aware of it? How come there is nothing about the twelve guardians anywhere in his history books? 

 

Xiumin’s eyes looked suddenly longing. “Now, you’re the only one who comes to this place. After my brothers died in the war against extremely powerful bad spirits, the villagers slowly stopped believing. They stopped praying and sacrificing. The land decayed, the plague started, the crop diminished. I haven’t been able to protect the whole village on my own. As you can imagine, twelve guardians maintaining a village promises prosperity - but one… the downfall was inevitable.”

 

“Praying and sacrificing only to you didn’t prove to be successful. So, the younger generation obviously didn’t believe in the delirium of the elder. That’s why they didn’t even document it”, Luhan thought out loud. Xiumin just nodded.

 

“I grow weaker.”

 

Luhan thought about his mark. That should keep Xiumin going at least for some more time. 

 

“What happens when you’re weak enough?” he wondered. 

 

“The bad spirits will slay me. Maybe tomorrow, maybe after a year, maybe after ten or two hundred years... Then, I’ll just… vanish. Just like my brothers did.” It was like someone who was already dead died again. “It is the law of nature.”

 

Xiumin turned to look at Luhan who was seemingly sad and worried about the guardian.

 

“I’ve lived long enough. Don’t worry about the dead. Worry about the living.”

 

***

 

Weeks passed. Luhan didn’t see Xiumin again in a while. He went to the temple every day and saw the white fox, but sometimes the little canine seemed… absent. Like a statue. Maybe his body wasn’t occupied? 

 

The nights became brighter. In the village and in Luhan’s head. Though he had trouble sleeping. The thoughts about the guardian kept him up at night and often made him absent-minded and clumsy at work. One time he accidentally spilled some tea on a customer and the woman smacked him right across his face. Then his boss yelled at him.

 

And one time, he bumped into his coworker and managed to burn the man’s arm, leaving a nasty burn mark to the area. Luhan tried his hardest to make it up for him, treated it and even offered to pay the man for compensation. But the man didn’t want this. He didn’t want money, not to be treated, not Luhan’s worry and care. What he wanted was revenge, to make Luhan suffer for being so lousy at his job. He swore he would pay him back triple. 

 

So going back to the tea shop was utter hell to the young man. He tiptoed around his co-worker and was constantly on the alert. Loud noises and sudden actions made him jump and almost tremor in fear. 

 

One day, the co-worker finally decided that his arm was healed enough to teach Luhan a lesson. After Luhan’s shift ended and they were together in the back room, the man ushered Luhan to the alleyway that was eerily quiet and empty. There he knocked Luhan out, hit and kicked him until he spit out blood and was unconscious.

 

He laid there for a few good hours before somehow managing to stand up. The nights were brighter, so he didn’t need a lantern as he made his way back to the road and out of the center of the village.

 

Instead of going home to his mother and cat, he went to the temple. Slowly, crying and while holding his stomach. He went to plead for Xiumin to help him, to make him feel better. To just cry and kneel before the altar, holding his stomach as his tears dropped on the floor. He didn’t say anything, there were no words that he could utter out.

 

Suddenly, a great grey wolf walked into the temple. Luhan shivered more as he saw the creature, ready to say goodbye to his life. He would be lending his life to the guardian sooner than expected. The scent of blood must have taken him here.

 

But to his surprise, the great grey wolf wasn’t hostile. It was calm and appeared to act in a weirdly humane manner. It walked to Luhan, didn’t even sniff at him. Just laid down on the floor before the altar and appeared to stare at the young man with calm eyes. Luhan could almost see the beast’s eyes flash red for a second. The wolf pawed the ground once before Luhan understood what he wanted. He laid down, his head against the wolf’s chest and his body against the huge animal, covering him with the fur. 

 

It was warm there. He cried against the canine’s fur and sniffled, still mute. He knew that Xiumin would protect him. 

 

***

 

When Luhan woke up in the morning, he was in his own bed. He was laying on the covers, still wearing the dirty clothes from yesterday in the alleyway. His stomach growled and nausea took over him as he accidentally kicked his cat while stretching him awake.

 

His mother was asleep when he went to work, never seeing what kind of condition he was in. He quickly cleaned himself up and went back to the tea shop where everyone looked at him devastated. He was covered in bruises and it looked like he was limping when walking. His eyes stayed fixated on the ground, avoiding other people’s gazes. He walked to the back room where his boss was. The old man gasped audibly as he saw the young man approaching. 

 

“Good heavens! What happened to you?” he questioned. Luhan knew that his co-worker would kill him if he told that it was him who beat him up. So he had to keep his secret.

 

“Some gangsters ganged up on me yesterday and robbed me when I left. I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad employee lately.”

 

“No, no, no. You need to rest or you’ll be worse”, the old man said as he helped Luhan sit down on a chair in the back room. Luhan looked up at him with big eyes, keeping himself together so he wouldn’t break down in tears again.

 

“...I walked all this way. I can’t just go back immediately.”

 

“You can rest here”, the old man said, taking a small cup of steaming tea. “Would you like some tea?”

 

Luhan thanked the man and took the cup, sipping the tea lightly. Until one of his co-workers came to the scene, making Luhan almost spill the hot fluids on his lap. He looked back at the ground and took a deep breath so that the woman could not see him. 

 

He spent the day in the tea shop, not once coming across the man who just yesterday beat him up.

 

On his way home, there was a sudden blizzard. It was already deep into the spring and it was warm, but suddenly Luhan felt a chill go down his spine as suddenly, out of nowhere, it started breezing. Snow came down from the skies and the wind started howling, almost toppling Luhan. He wasn’t prepared to the sudden snowstorm, so the darkness consumed him. He could hardly see where he was going, the snowflakes falling from the skies with the speed of lightning. 

 

His body started to tremble and his knees buckled, making him falter. He looked up into the darkness to see something, someone, walking towards him. His silhouette was becoming more distinct as he made his way towards the young man. 

 

It was the last guardian, looking at him straight in the eye. He just stood there, still, his eyes puncturing through Luhan’s whole frame and rendering him immobile. The young man couldn’t move a muscle as he saw the red lips of the spirit, blood dripping from his fangs as he slowly opened his mouth to utter the words, “Your prayer has been answered.” 

 

And he walked away, into the forest, probably back into his temple. Luhan wanted to follow, take the spirit by the hand, tell him everything about what happened. If only he had the strength and the warmth to follow him, but the night was present and winter was here. 

 

The blizzard didn’t stop though the spirit vanished. Luhan first tried to move his fingers - then his toes. Finally, he could make himself move again. Even if he had developed a slight obsession with the guardian, he couldn’t help but be afraid of the man. 

 

***

 

The next day he went back to work. This time he did not see the co-worker who had previously beaten him up. He could work normally, though getting some looks from the customers and the employees alike. He brushed them off like nothing. 

 

The customers and the boss were all very nice to him, looked like they had pity for him. Luhan didn’t mind. It was a good day, since he didn’t see his abuser. 

 

But it all came crumbling down when his boss, at the end of the day, took him to the back room and sat him down with a cup of tea. Luhan accepted it gladly and listened intently to the old man, his eyes wide. The old man sat before him and sighed deeply, the wrinkles on his face looked deeper and more furrowed. 

 

Just then the sad news rolled from his lips with much unease. He looked devastated, but not as much as Luhan, whose world started spinning. He held his head and tried to see straight, but his eyesight was blurring. His stomach dropped and nausea took over. 

 

Luhan stood up. There was only one place where he could find peace. There was only one person who could make him feel at ease. 

 

Because his boss just told him that Luhan’s abusive co-worker was found dead in his apartment with a huge bite mark on his neck. He looked peaceful, though. Like it was a very quick and easy death. 

 

It still made Luhan feel horrible. He couldn’t help but feel responsible for his death, like it was him who personally went and killed him. 

 

He bid goodbye to his boss before running away, out of the tea shop and into the forest. He ran the whole way to the temple. The nights were already very clear and light. Summer had officially arrived. 

 

His knees faltered when he finally made his way to the altar. He kneeled before it and stared at it, now silent. He took a long while to catch his breath.

 

And not long passed until the guardian sat right next to him. They sat there, both, in silence.

 

“You killed him”, Luhan finally dared to accused.

 

“I did not. I was protecting”, Xiumin defended himself. 

 

“Protecting what?”

 

The young man couldn’t fathom what in the world was so valuable that it needed to be protected by ending someone else’s life. 

 

“You.”

 

Just then Luhan’s head started spinning again. He didn’t know what thought to follow. He felt something, he just didn’t know what. His heart felt warm, yet his mind was completely irrational. He felt good that he was protected the way he was, and especially by someone who possessed power much greater than any man he’d ever seen. 

 

His face scrunched. He didn’t know what to believe. It was surreal, that someone had killed a person because that person had hurt him. 

 

“These days, protecting a whole village is a task too big for one guardian like me. It’s too lonely a burden”, Xiumin sighed. “But protecting one person… That would be enough for me.”

 

Then he turned his head to see Luhan staring at the altar. The young man hastily turned his head. Xiumin’s eyes burned on his skin as the spirit came closer and closer, his red lips and eyes sending shivers down his spine. He felt scared, excited, nervous, aroused, all at the same time. 

 

And all the tension left his body as the ice cold lips finally landed on his warm, soft ones. 


End file.
